NEWARK, NJ - Vermont scored the first nine points of the game on Wednesday and never looked back en route to an 83-57 victory over NJIT at the Wellness and Events Center in America East action.

The first-place Catamounts are now 4-0 in America East action and 12-4 overall, while NJIT evened its record at 8-8 and 3-3 in conference play.

The Highlanders battled with Vermont after the early 9-0 spurt, getting withing five on several occasions, but the Catamounts went on another run, this time 12-0 late in the first half, and took a 48-29 lead into the locker room at halftime. UVM shot 66.7% (8-of-12) from deep in the first 20 minutes and 59.4% (19-of-32) overall, while NJIT made just 2-of-8 from three-point range and was 40.7% from the field (11-of-27).

Souleymane Diakite opened the second half with a bucket for NJIT to cut the deficit to 17, but answered with another 12-0 run to bring the lead to 29.

Vermont continued its hot shooting in the second half, finishing the contest 52.5% (31-of-59) from the field and 48.0% (12-of-25) from long range. NJIT saw its shooting percentages go down after halftime, shooting 33.9% (20-of-59) overall and 23.8% (5-of-21)  from three-point range.

NJIT is now 1-8 on the season when failing to shoot 40.0% from the field, as opposed to 7-0 when reaching that benchmark. 

Four Catamounts finished in double figures, led by Finn Sullivan and Nick Fiorillo, who each tallied 18 points. Sullivan drained all six of his three-point attempts, while Fiorillo made four of his own on eight attempts. Ryan Davis, the 2020-21 America East Player of the Year, scored 13 points and grabbed a game-high-tying seven rebounds in the win.

Miles Coleman was once again the Highlanders leading scorer, netting 16 points, while also grabbing four rebounds and dishing out three assists. Mekhi Gray joined Coleman in double figures with 10 points, marking the fifth time this season that the sophomore has reached double digits. 

The Highlanders will look to put an end to their three-game losing skid on Saturday when they host Binghamton at 7pm back in the WEC. Earlier this month, NJIT defeated the Bearcats 67-56 on the road in Vestal, NY.